Saab 9-3 to live on (but only in Turkey)

The Saab was once said to be a car for the ‘intelligentsia’ by Top Gear, but sadly the Swedish manufacturer died a death. Fortunately one of its better creations, the 9-3, will live on.

The Turkish government is currently working towards having a “national vehicle” to showcase its production and development facilities. It will be built from parts manufactured in the country using the electric 9-3 as a basis.

Turkey has been working with the National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) ─ the firm that bought the bankrupted manufacturer from General Motors in 2012 ─ to create the car.

While this means the 9-3 is technically back, it won’t be in name. Science, industry and technology minister for Turkey, Fikri Isik, explained to a TV news channel:

“We bought Saab 9-3’s intellectual property rights, but not its name. The brand of the car will be a Turkish brand; it will not be Saab. We will develop the technology in Turkey. A minimum of 85% of the car parts will be produced in Turkey.”

Officials are said to have revealed three prototypes of the unnamed car, which will build upon the Saab 9-3 Electric’s specs so a range of around 120 miles and a 0-62mph sprint in 10 seconds. A 2020 arrival in showrooms is expected.

Saab started out life developing military hardware for the Swedish airforce and diversified into cars a year before World War 2 came to a close. It quickly became a brand recognised for its leftfield creations.

Sadly a number of mistakes made by General Motors, which owned a considerable stake at the time, failed buyouts and the canning of a few key models sealed its fate.

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